I'll Know My Name As It's Called Again
by noble-obsessions
Summary: Quinn expands her NY-based magazine publishing business to the music industry and her project manager happens to hire an old friend from LA to work for the music magazine. It's been 8 long years but has the fire completely burn out? Read and review!
1. Chapter 1

She sat at the head of the conference table with a commandeering façade, never breaking face as one of her employees draws out yet another plan for their next step towards taking over the magazine industry in New York. There's a slideshow of a poorly made cover, just the way she likes it, like a collage of ideas patched up.

"… And so we can branch out to wider areas and audiences with this new plan. A music magazine where up and coming musicians and A-listers can be interwoven together…"

She drowns out the voice as she thinks back to almost eight years ago. At 18, Lucy Quinn Fabray left her old, rebellious and pitiful self in the town of Lima ten years ago and moved on to New York after finishing her English degree for four years in Princeton, with her new, true self. Now at 24, she started Scribbles and Shots Publishing, a travel magazine, "Wandering Eye", which became an instant hit and then expanded to a fashion magazine, "Spotlight", which she all has hands on influence and final approval. Now at 26, the head bitch is still so in charge minus the immaturity of her words. She rarely spoke a lot but when she did, it always made sense. There, she built a wall of protection so that her private life and public life were two separate entities that existed separately. The private one being the same Quinn who loved to sing and dance, who loved to go to art museums and would rather waste her free day at Barnes and Noble reading books, who preferred traveling to Europe on her long vacations to take pictures of places she stuck on her bedside wall, the Quinn who never forgot the New Directions, the club that brought out the best and worst in her, the club that opened opportunities to her that she never thought she would, the club that introduced her to her heart's desire that she so idiotically screwed up.

Samuel Michael Evans.

"Miss Fabray?" A voice snaps her out of her reverie. She looks towards the source of the voice, her assistant who sat next to her in the form of her second-in-command, Santana Lopez. The Latina jerked her head towards the people waiting for her final say. She had five investors here, including herself.

"What do you say about that Miss Holiday?" She asks her former Spanish and Glee adviser substitute, who she so happens to have stumbled upon over at an acoustic bar one night and a friendship bloomed from there on.

"You know how much I love the music, Miss Fabray," Holly replied, smiling at the other blonde. "It's a yes for me and if we can get that thing rolling in perfect shape, I would very much prefer that."

Quinn nodded as Santana jotted down on her notepad. Quinn never thought Santana would settle to being second best but the Latina had no choice when her abuela kicked her out a decade ago for being a lesbian and when Brittany went on constant tours, dancing for famous people that they split up, leaving a heartbroken Santana that she went to Quinn for support.

"Mr. Chang?" She asked the old Asian man who is the father of one of her close friends, Mike. He opened up to the arts when Mike got into Baltimore School of the Arts and somehow, Brittany informed Mike of Quinn's plan to launch a magazine and Mike knew his dad would be on board any business with potential.

"I have doubts with this one seeing as there are numerous amounts of music magazines out there such as Rolling Stones and all that but I think if we went to the right people to be the monthly content and if we have an incredible advertising team, that we can actually do this thing, so it's a yes," the Asian man replied confidently.

Quinn once again nodded. "Mrs. McGuire?" She asks her old journalism professor who had so much influence on her writing whom she happens to have opened the idea of launching her own magazine. "I'll be a third yes to that."

And finally, she looked over to the last investor, surprisingly, the rock star that was her baby's daddy, Puck. "No need to ask the Puckasaurus because as the only legitimate rock star in this conference, I say yes!" Everyone chuckled at his antics, as his words are all true. He dropped out in his junior year in a community college in Lima as his own four-man rock band made it to open a local Fueled By Ramen band and things worked out from there. Well at least, it did in New York. Puck's band "Four O'Clock Sharp" is only known in that area but that was good enough at the moment.

"I guess this was a positive conference then," Quinn said, voice still all too powerful. "Kyle," she addressed the project manager who was now smiling with relief as his product got approved. "I want you to form your teams and show us an initial issue in a month. This meeting is adjourned." Quinn stood up and left without so much as a word and straight to her office.

She went straight to the wide glass overlooking the streets of New York. She loved looking over this view as it made her forget shit, made her think of new art musings she could make, and it calms her soul. That was until her black oak door shuts quite loudly, making her thoughts disappear. She turns around, meeting a pair of dark eyes. This wasn't her assistant looking back at her. It was her best friend.

"What do you want, San?" She says rather annoyingly as she pulls out her extra large chair to sit on.

"Mind telling me what's up?" The Latina remarks as she sits down one of the plush black chairs.

"It's not really-" the Latina cuts off Quinn.

"And this isn't what I'm getting paid for but this is what I signed up for when I decided to be your best friend. So what the fuck is going on?"

"It's nothing bad, S," she gives in to her friend. Santana lolled her head to the side, giving her blonde friend another chance to open up to her. The blonde internally debated whether or not to open up to her friend. "Okay, fine. It's the fourteenth of March if you must know and less than 10 years ago-"

Santana's mind zoomed back to the date and it clicked. "And it was when I stole him away from you." Sam's name was taboo to them, in an unspoken agreement. The same way Brittany was taboo to them as well.

Quinn pursed her lips. "I'd really like to be alone now."

"I was sorry for that, Q," Santana explained but was cut off. "He was-"

"What you did was long forgotten and to be honest, it all still boils down to me. It was my fault. I just… I didn't expect to still be this hung up on him."

"Let's go have fun tonight," Santana brightened. She stood up and took Quinn's arms as the blonde protests. "Come on, Q. It's Friday, I know your schedule and that meeting was the last of it for now."

"It's five in the afternoon!" She argued.

"And so? Do you have a fucking curfew? No, you don't. We share an apartment, woman! Puck's here and we're hanging with him and his friends!" The Latina argued back.

"I'm not sleeping with any of them! You and Puck need to stop setting me up with his friends!" The blonde shrieked but one full pull and she knew she lost the fight.

"Who says you have to? Now come on! I heard Tina's coming with Mike and Berry's gonna try to catch up after her show. Let's just go!"

* * *

><p>He riffled through some ads as the afternoon coffee shop wasn't as busy. Sam juggled on multiple jobs between being a barista in the morning, a delivery boy in the afternoon, and a musician at night. He's on the process of recording some oh his old stuff so he can try and distribute his music to people who has influences. Living in LA has made his life quite a hassle. He did college at CSUN for four years, taking Music, and so far, he's gotten quite a few nightly gigs here and there which supplemented his income. However, he hasn't cemented his name yet out there. The blonde had a couple of contacts, most of whom are budding artists like him whom he tries to collaborate as much as he could, posting Youtube videos online, doing gigs and all that. He refused bands because he likes working alone most of the time. He didn't want the drama of it all.<p>

He sighs. He wanted more. More from the Hollywood life he doesn't exactly want but the need to be out there, to be heard. He just wants his music to be something people sang along with.

His break begins in five minutes as his phone rings. He figures he'd take the call seeing as it was a slow day for them and so he heads to the back room to sit down and answer the call.

"Yep?"

"_Hey Sam!_" The voice from the other line greeted.

"Hey, how's it going?" The two exchanged a few niceties a few more seconds before the person on the other line went straight to the point.

_"So listen, remember how I moved here to New York to work for a magazine? Yeah, they approved my project proposal of branching out to the music stuff and I instantly thought of my old room mate who endlessly woke me up at night recording stuff on his computer."_

"Oh wow, congratulations!"

_"Thanks! Now, I wanna get your input this stuff. I have to have the initial issue in a month so we're trying to get a lot of people on board."_

"That sounds really awesome but between my two jobs, I'm not sure how I could help you out as much as I want to," the blonde replies to his old friend.

_"Hey man, no worries. I'm offering you a killer position here. I'm making the final team list and if you grab this job, you'd be in for a pretty nice life."_

As much as it sounds tempting, Sam can't help but reply an "I'll think about it" line on his friend before going back to work. Uprooting his LA life in favor of a much more expensive NY life can be a tough decision to make especially when you're 26 and with no stable job.

His iPhone pinged, signaling a new message. Just as his old friend said, Kyle had emailed him the information for the job. They wanted him to be an article writer and correspondent based in either LA or New York, all expenses paid for the first month if he chooses the latter.

Sam really wasn't the writing time because he only wrote for his music. He didn't know what's going to happen to him in New York. At least in LA, he knew what's going to happen in his daily life, like he had this routine down for the last couple of years in his life. What does New York have that LA doesn't?

Later that night as he sat in his bed, he scoured the Internet to learn the basics of New York, comparing them to LA, doing the whole pros-cons list just so he can decide. He could've said no in an instant but somehow, it's like his mind is telling him to reconsider. He asked himself, what did New York have over LA again and again when BAM.

He suddenly came across an article about a charity show by a band called Four O'Clock Sharp in Central Park, the starting sentence being "Noah Puckerman of the band Four O'Clock Sharp shares…"

And just like that, he calls Kyle back, confirms the six-month job stint and accepts the offer. After all, it's just 6 months and if Puck could've made it to New York, then who knew who else from the New Directions made it to the Big Apple? He wouldn't admit it but he missed his old club greatly and Puck is one step closer to home.

If home meant Quinn, then that's what's pushing him to move to New York.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hi! So this has been on my mind for quite some time now. Slow start but I needed to build stuff up. I can't promise daily updates because of school but I'll do my best especially when I'm inspired. Happy 2012! Reviews?**


	2. Chapter 2

Uprooting his LA life wasn't an easy task. For instance, he had to go over to all of his work to quit his jobs, get another suitcase for his belongings, settle his bills, and get used to another place without getting stabbed along a dark alley or getting lost. Somehow, he believes that moving to New York wasn't a bad idea. In fact, he thinks it might be some sort of chick flick destiny where his dreams of playing music would come true.

When he found out that Puck had made it out there, it gave him this motivation to not only seek his old high school friend but to also believe that if Puck made it, he is one step closer. Friends help friends land jobs mostly so that's the bonus. He had lost contact to the New Directions when they moved to Kentucky and then when he went to LA for college. It wasn't that easy for him to just go away but he knew it was for the best.

As he waited for the carousel to deliver his bag, his phone rang and he answered it.

"Hey, Kyle," he greeted casually as he adjusted the strap of his backpack.

"_Hey man, I'm out here already. I'm wearing my Napoleon Dynamite shirt. I'm pretty easy to spot."_

He chuckled at his old friend. "Yeah man, I'll see you in a bit. I'm just waiting for my luggage."

He waited another minute before his two suitcases and guitar were rounding the carousel. He placed them in a cart and pushed his way out of JFK. The cold New York air hit him in the face and he shivered. He wasn't used to this kind of weather and Sam knows how bad he copes up with it. He saw Kyle, wearing his Napoleon Dynamite shirt with his hair all faux hawked with hair clay doh and waved to him. They fist bumped and together, they rode Kyle's car to the apartment that the company was letting him in for a month. It was a simple but completely furnished two-floor apartment. The first floor housed the kitchen, dining, and living room, while the second floor had the bathroom and his room. It wasn't elegant but it was loads better than his old apartment, which he shared with two other guys. At least here, he's alone and he can relax.

"So, I talked to my boss," Kyle said as he sat down the couch. "You get to stay here for a month – all expense paid. That includes food and transportation allowances. I'm told that you can decide to stay here after the month is up or you can look for a place. I'd offer you mine but I already have a girlfriend and roomie. I think four's a crowd."

Sam smiled at his friend's generosity. "Yeah, no don't worry about that," he replied. "So tell me about this job."

"Basically, you write content. If the first issue is a hit, we'd can assign you to do phone call interviews and in-person interviews with whomever budding artist or famous musician we're including in the issue," Kyle started. "For the initial issue, I'm thinking indie artists who are mostly on Youtube. There's a ton of amazing musicians out there who could produce way better than those shit I hear on the radio nowadays."

"Gotta agree with you on that one. It's a shame how shitty some songs are now," Sam voiced.

"Right? And there's also a section for reviews like audio equipment and music instruments and stuff like that. You start on Monday and your cubicle is right out my office."

"Well look at you being such an office-guy and what not," Sam joked. "Can you pick me up though? I might get lost and damn it if I do. You gotta teach me how to use the subway."

"Yeah, no problem. I'll pick you up at seven then we can head out to the subway and back home," Kyle answered as he looked as his watch. "Do you wanna go around the block so you could see some places and grab dinner?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Do you mind if my girlfriend tags along?" Sam shook his head as they put their jackets back on.

"I'd love to meet her actually," the blonde shared. "She made my badass roomie a decent person in less than two years!"

* * *

><p>Monday came by quickly and fortunately for Sam, he's quite familiar with the area already. He spent the past three days roaming the place, looking for diners to eat and places to hang out – all by himself. Complete independence, he figured, was the key to living in New York. Kyle came around seven, just as he buttoned up the last button on his long sleeved polo. He didn't know the dress code so it was a safe bet. Kyle taught him the subway method and now they're standing in front of a seventeen-floor building.<p>

"The office occupies the last three floors. My boss's floor being the last," Kyle shared as he swiped his ID at the entrance and signaled the security guard that Sam's is his visitor. "Us ordinary employees clock in at eight. The big boss and her secretary clock in at nine." They rode the elevator up the sixteenth floor and Kyle directed Sam to his cubicle. It was a nice-sized spaced that had a desk and an iMac to work on. Later on, Kyle accompanied Sam to the HR office to sign his contract papers. The blonde learned from his friend that he was able to hire seven more people aside from him. Two were graphic designers and the other five were writers and correspondents. It was the initial team.

He settled at his workstation to get to Youtube and scoured for potential first issue people until lunch break came. Him and Kyle went out to grab some lunch and his friend told him that he'd introduce the team to the big boss after lunch. He can't help but ask why he calls his boss the big boss.

"Oh she's a fierce young woman, around our age, twenty-six. She gets everything in a snap. If it's trash, you're fucked. She's hands-on in everything here. She gets the final say on every article, every picture and all that. Plus she's really kind of nervous to be around with," Kyle explains as they ordered and paid for their food. "There's this aura around her that screams danger high voltage. She's mostly quiet but I heard her get mad at her secretary once and it wasn't a sight to see. It's a good thing they're roommates though or else her secretary should've been fired."

"Roomates?" Sam inquired as he settled in his seat, a food number in hand. "Tell me more about the company."

"Well, Scribbles and Shots Publishing is what I left LA nearly two years ago for, remember? Pretty fuckintastic deal. Chief editor and all that," Kyle shared. "From what I've learned, big boss, was an exceptional student who got amazing journalism offers before graduating. She scored a pretty epic job for travel magazine and traveled Europe to write for them. She eventually left after two years to start this company and hired her bestfriend and roommate to be her secretary."

"She must be pretty rich having to start this up by herself," Sam opinionated. "It'd be quite hard at such young age to start a successful company and in New York no less."

"Yup, very much so. But she's got four other investors she reports to. One was her old college professor, one is her old friend's business man dad, another was their old high school substitute and the last one's a pretty cool dude who's in a band called Four O'Clock Sharp."

Sam's eyes widened at the information. "Four O'Clock Sharp?" Their food came and they started to eat.

"Yeah, they're pretty known around the area. They do alternative and acoustic rock. They actually don't suck and I'm not just saying that because the guy's my boss but they really are. And from what I've gathered, he's known the big boss for a long time. I think they had history or something."

That bothered Sam even more who this big boss was. He knew Puck and his dating extremes. His heart started to beat quite fast. "So this guy from the band, he wouldn't happen to have a Mohawk and a cocky smirk, does he?"

"Oh so you know the band? Yeah, he has. He invited me over to one of his gigs and he's a really cool dude to hang with. Knows lots of people and has a might load of connections," Kyle shared but the ringing of his phone interrupted him. He sent an apologetic look to Sam before answering it and Sam left finished his food off. The blonde couldn't believe it. Of all places to land a job, he gets the one wherein he knows one of the investors. It's like all the blessings are finally pouring in on him and all it took was a courageous move to the Big Apple. He smiled, he loved the fact that he's in close proximity to Lima, or someone from Lima.

Kyle finished the call. "Hey dude, we gotta go. Boss is cutting out early and if we don't catch her, it won't be until tomorrow that the team meets her."

* * *

><p>When they got to the office, Kyle dialed for Santana as Sam stood by Kyle's door, looking at his phone for any messages.<p>

"Hey, San," Sam's head snapped up at the name, his brows scrunched up in question. "Yeah, is she there? I've got my team for the issue and initial meeting was today." Kyle paused for a while. "Oh shit. Yeah, tomorrow's good, I guess." He hung up the phone. "Well, she left early. Emergency and stuff. We can meet her tomorrow." Sam nodded and walked back to his workstation to continue working. So far, he's contacted two potential people already. One was a Youtube famous producer who made awesome medleys while the other was a Youtube famous singer who covered everything in acoustic.

Sam had to go and use the bathroom but found that the place was occupied and so he took the lift one floor up. As the door pinged open, revealing a few more executive desks, he walked out and turned to his left only to bump a woman.

"I'm sorry!" He exclaimed apologetically and instinctively bent down to help the person he knocked over.

"What the fu-" the woman started but the two locked eyes, both eyes wide and in shock. "Trouty Mouth?"

"Santana?" He exclaimed further as he helped Santana up to her feet.

"What the heck? Why are you here?"

"I work here now! What are you doing here?"

"What? Since when!" The Latina exclaimed. "I work here too! Top floor as you can see!"

"Holy shit," Sam muttered.

"What?" The brunette asked as she straightened her clothes.

"You're not big boss, are you?"

Santana slyly smiled and shook her head. "She's not here. You'll meet big boss tomorrow."

"Do I know her?" Sam questioned, his heart beating for the second time that day.

"I have to go back to work, Sam. You'll meet big boss tomorrow," the Latina turned away, ignoring the blonde boy's question and Sam shook his head and went to do his business. This day was getting crazier than expected. First Puck and then Santana? Who's next? Tina? Brittany? Quinn? The last name sent tingles down his stomach. He's going to find out tomorrow.

* * *

><p>"Q? I'm home," Santana shut the door to their posh apartment.<p>

"In here," Quinn called from her mini library slash office. Santana's heels clicked down at the marble floor, a sly smirk etched on her face. The blonde looked up at her. "What?"

"Nothing," the Latina sing-songed. "How's Beth?" She changed subjects before dropping the news. Well kind of.

"She's at the hospital still but she's okay now. She's got the chickenpox," the blonde sadly told her friend.

"What? We gotta visit Little B soon! She needs my presence to get better," the Latina said smugly, trying to lighten the blonde's mood. Ever since Shelby came back to McKinley their senior year, Quinn's been allowed to visit her baby girl. Shelby even named her one of Beth's guardians and that was more than enough for Quinn. Now that Shelby's working as an acting and voice coach in Broadway, she wasn't able to come to Beth's emergencies such as today when Beth's principal called to tell Quinn she's contacted the chickenpox.

"Yeah, whatever. I was supposed to stay with her but Shelby sent me home three hours ago," Quinn replied. "Have you had dinner?"

"Nope, I'll call some pizza," Santana replied and did as she said. After her order, she went back to Quinn's office, sat in the seat in front and placed her feet up at the desk.

"San!" Quinn exclaimed but she knew she has no power over this woman even if said woman was her secretary. At home, they weren't officemates with superiorities but best friends who argued and such. Santana waved her off.

"You'll have a pretty epic surprise at work tomorrow."

"What? Did somebody forget the Etiquette again?" Quinn exasperatedly asked as she shut the book she was reading. They had a few people who didn't know interview etiquettes over the phone that Quinn had to personally apologize for and in turn, personally fire the person at fault. She developed the 'Etiquette', something her employees had to know by heart like an anthem. She had no time for fucking up her business and people who fucked with her company had no place in her office.

"Nope. It's a surprise and I'm sure it belongs to the positive kind."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Like I said, I can't promise quick updates due to school. I'm designing a program, documenting it and such along with a thesis and my part time jobs so yeah. Reviews are my crack though, so go for it! : ) So, how about reviewing this chapter? **


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